Friday March 18, 2011 1:25 pm

HTC to offer Thunderbolt extended battery to double power

The HTC Thunderbolt has the fastest Internet speeds I've ever seen on a cell phone, but using the 4G LTE network really kills its battery life.

In our tests, I got eight hours of 3G talk time with the Thunderbolt, six hours of video playback time, and only 2.5 hours of LTE streaming. So what's an Internet fan to do?

HTC and Verizon will offer a very high-capacity extended battery, the companies told me. The 2750 mAh battery is nearly twice the capacity of the Thunderbolt's built-in 1400 mAh unit. The big battery will cost $49.99 and will be available very soon, said Pat Bucci, Verizon's director of accessory products.

The new battery makes the phone about an ounce heavier than its existing 6.5 ounces, and it comes with a new back that makes the phone deeper as well, Bucci said.

"We want customers who are power users, that are going to have the hotspot on all day, to just go," he said.

Along with the extended battery, Verizon will offer a $59.99 desktop dock, which can charge both the phone and a second standard or extended battery at once. A second standard battery will cost $39.99.

The Thunderbolt will also be the first Verizon phone to support wireless charging. In April, Verizon will start selling a Qi-compatible back and charging pad for the Thunderbolt. The back will cost $29 and the pad will cost $69; it's fully compatible with Energizer's inductive charging products.

You could also go for a third-party charging solution like the Energizer Energi To Go power pack. The Energizer XP4001 ($53.47 at Amazon) weighs about five ounces and holds 4000 mAh of power, which should be enough to LTE all day.